Knott’s Berry Farm is poised to honor its origins with the Boysenberry Festival March 16-April 8. The annual event will celebrate the berry with more than 75 dishes, treats and beverages, as well as themed entertainment, activities and shopping.

Named after its originator Rudolf Boysen, the boysenberry is a cross between a loganberry, red raspberry and blackberry. It was first successfully harvested and sold by the Knott family on the land that is now Knott’s Berry Farm.

Food is the festival’s focus

The Boysenberry Festival is aimed squarely at the tastebuds with a selection of new and returning items. Some of the new dishes include quesadillas, pierogies and elote (Mexican street corn), graced by the berry in various ways.There will also be slow cooked short ribs smothered in boysenberry hoisin sauce, chicken wings doused in boysenberry barbecue sauce and a grilled sausage on a roll topped with boysenberry ketchup, relish and mustard. Nibbles will include boysenberry hummus with pita bread and bite-sized boysenberry coconut macaroons dipped in a chocolate ganache.

The festival will include shows, exhibits and more

There are two ways guests at the Boysenberry Festival can learn about Knott’s history. In Ghost Town’s Town Hall there will be an exhibit about the boysenberry and the creation of Knott’s Berry Farm and “Tied Up in Knott’s!,” an art show charting Knott’s from farm to theme park, will be on display in the Wilderness Dance Hall. Many of the art show pieces, as well as prints, will be available for purchase.

Perhaps the biggest news is Krazy Kirk and the Hillbillies will be returning to the park with a show on the Wagon Camp stage. This bluegrass band has a strong fan base and has become one of the most popular acts at Knott’s.

There will also be a musical comedy melodrama, country music from the Ghost Town Miners and a show starring the Peanuts Gang. Families can snap photos with Snoopy as the Easter Beagle and spend some time meeting horses, sheep, goats and other animals at the Old MacDonald Petting Zoo.

Shopping abounds at the festival

Park guests can take a little of the Boysenberry Festival home with a range of merchandise available throughout the park. The Craft Fair will be back with boysenberry cashew nut brittle, pie-shaped home accessories and other items. In addition to park shopping favorites, Knott’s will have some new items just for the festival, including a boysenberry bath and body line with soaps, bath bombs, lip balms and candles, Knott’s sugar-free boysenberry concentrate to make its popular punch and boysenberry Jelly Belly candies. There will also be boysenberry versions of its chocolates, barbecue sauce and other edibles.

Michelle Mills has been an entertainment and features reporter for the Southern California News Group since 1999. She has interviewed such notables as "Weird Al" Yankovic, Glen Campbell, Alice Cooper, Debbie Allen, Ernest Borgnine (during an earthquake) and Adam Young (Owl City). She was the 31st Occasional Pasadena Doo Dah Parade Queen reigning 2007-2009. She is a professional belly dancer (swordwork is her specialty) and also studies Polynesian and Tahitian dance.

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